Posted On: Tuesday - July 7th 2026 6:02PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Humor History Global Climate Stupidity Science
How serendipitous! It was only in the last quarter of the 20th Century that the manager of the buck-fifty movie theater used this line, and I mentioned this snark - most humorous to me at the time - on Friday. The Babylon Bee has picked up on this:
Did I make an arithmetical error? Maybe you can.
I was tired and somehow got the line backward in that post (fixed now), but it's the heating up of the WHOLE OUTSIDE that Climate Alarmist and moonlighting Urban Adaptation Expert Ine Vandecasteele is worried about:
But in the longer term, what happens is, installing more air conditioning actually emits more heat into our environment, so it will actually increase the speed of warming.”I just learned Ine Vandecasteele is not a Dutchman but a Danish woman, so my apologies for the mistake, but she's STILL not from Ethiopia and should know better. She probably does...
How can White people such as your Ine Vandecasteeles and the like have so much disregard for the great White scientists of the 19th and 20th centuries who made the World so much better? The invention of Air Conditioning, something only ubiquitous in America since the last (arguably) 75 years, is an example. It's changed the South completely. We should be very thankful for those White man... who exactly were they?
Wait, wait, didn't the Chinese invent Air Conditioning? You know, they invented everything - they just didn't get around to building all that stuff. I found it humorous that the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), on the page linked-to below, had to mention the Chinese. Back in the 0's AD (yeah, you read that right, the 1st Century), someone built a hand-cranked rotating fan. Sorry, but that's not air conditioning! The Japanese, over the last 20 years, have built those great Mitsubishi mini-split systems, as we show here. I'm sure the China-made ones now are just as good... surely...
Anyway, as for the invention of A/C, the name "Carrier" rang a bell for me. Willis Carrier out of near Buffalo, New York, and, later, his companies developed workable air conditioning systems as early as in 1902 (for a color printing plant), and the name Carrier is well known in the field of HVAC. (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). However, Mr. Carrier didn't by start using a vapor-compression cycle, and, after looking into it, I see that it was, yet again two AMERICAN White men who invented the process. Though way back in the mid 1700, Scotsman William Cullen first observed that drawing a vacuum over a liquid would create a cooling effect, the ASME credits Americans Oliver Evans and Jacob Perkins thought through the vapor-compression cyclic process in the first half of the 1800s. One John Hague built an ice-making machine based on Perkins' patent and principles in 1882, and working refrigeration systems were built during that last part of the 1800s.
It was Willis Carrier and others that developed usable smaller systems for residential use through the first half of the 20th century. This included the "Heat Pump", which is nothing more than the same cycle with the heat transferred to the inside and heat absorbed from the outside instead of vice versa. So, yes, the condenser coils of air conditioning units transfer heat to the outside world (along with waste heat from the compressor).
How much energy is transferred via convection and radiation from the whole World's air conditioning systems to the Earth's atmosphere? That seems simple enough to find a number for.
It basically is, but I started thinking about the COP, Coefficient of Performance of Air Conditioning units. It's easy to make the assumption that you can't get any more cooling than you have electricity coming in, but no ... the 1st Law of Thermo doesn't say that. Take that proverbial, and useful, imaginary Control Volume around the unit - you've got electrical energy entering, heat from the air entering via the evaporator inside (or through the ductwork to inside), and heat into the air exiting via the condenser outside. The COP is the ratio of the cooling (heat transferred from the inside air) to the electrical input. That ratio can be 4 or 5 in efficient systems. It goes down at the temperature difference between the T of the outside air and the inside air increases.
I know, it sounds too good to be true, but it violates no law. That vapor-compression cycle is a great way to move energy around. In the case of a heat pump, that the COP is much greater than 1 explains why we use them at all. After all, strip heaters turn electrical energy into thermal energy perfectly! Anything with inefficiencies does too, if we can get the heat where we need it. With reasonably small temperature differentials, say, heating a house to 68F when the outside is 45F the COP can be high and we make out well with a heat pump, while with double the differential, it gets inefficient and the strip heaters must come on.
That lesson completed, let me say that in coming up with a number for heat exhausted to the atmosphere from air conditioning the World, the COP doesn't matter. Take another control volume around the whole house. Now we see that if 5 times the electrical energy coming in is coming out via heat transfer, that's a felonious violation of the 1st Law of Thermo. We think for a minute and realize that, at a steady state, the house is of course transferring that extra heat via its walls, windows, etc., or else the unit could shut off for good. ("Don't keep the door open though. Whadda' gonna do, air condition the whole outside?!) Electrical energy in MUST = heat transferred at the condenser + heat transferred from the house.
So, even if this factor of 5 mattered, which it wouldn't so much when compared to that big fusion nuclear reactor up there 93 million miles away (some literary foreshadowing here), we just need the value of electrical power used around the world for A/C to get the heat transferred out. One piece of AI told me it's about 2,000 Terawatt-hours yearly. (That includes simple fans too, but no matter.) That's 2 x 1015 W-hr. Now, with a Watt being one Joule/s and all, another way to put things is that a J = 1 W-second. 1 W-s x (1hr/3,600s) = 1/3,600 W-hr. 1 W-hr = 3,600J. Round up to a nice 1 x 1019 J used in doing air conditioning yearly in the world.
AI also told me that the Sun transfers ~ 1 x 1024 J to the Earth yearly. I really like the easy arithmetic! It tells me all that heat transferred from the World's air conditioning to the atmosphere (and space, but let's not quibble) is 1 / 100,000th of what we get from the sun.
Therefore, Peak Stupidity, in this attempt at an open letter, hereby asks Miss Ine Vandecasteele of Denmark to rest easy. Spend some time away from Brussels, cool your heels at home at 72 or so - for you Euros on that antiquated Metric System, to 22 - and think of this poor blogger with his (now) two window units in place.
We've got 80F and holding steady through the daily high, and it was a HOT ONE today. We can barely air condition the whole house. Just DON'T LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN! I can't cool the whole damn neighborhood, much less accidentally heat the World to speed up Global Boiling.
Comments:
Adam Smith
Wednesday - July 8th 2026 1:28PM MST
PS: Good evening, Mr. Alarmist,
Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad Miss Kitty came into our world and I really enjoyed the year we had with her. I just wish I hadn't cut our time so short. (Everything was going so well. She was so sweet. So cute. So adorable. And her and Baby Girl were getting along so well.) I really should have been more careful. (Still feeling pretty bad today. I'm not used to making mistakes.)
https://i.ibb.co/6JW8JYNt/Miss-Kitty.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/DPZVsJqF/Flowers-in-the-Yard.jpg
So, I have this under-utilized part of the yard that I've been thinking about cleaning up and turning into a flower garden (It's in the shade most of the day.) or something. (Just hadn't gotten to it yet.) And as chance would have it, this is where we buried Miss Kitty the other day. (In hindsight, I might have chosen a slightly different place out there. But I didn't...)
As evening approached Mrs. Smith grew concerned that some animals (dogs?, raccoons?, bear?) might come and dig her up in the night. (She's only 3 feet down, and the soil is very soft right now.) So... I started piling some rocks from around the yard atop her grave (Somewhat in a Trahlyta and/or native burial mound style) to keep the animals from digging or otherwise bothering her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trahlyta
Yesterday I went out in the back 40 and found a few larger rocks. I'm going to make a nice little garden area with a rock garden atop her grave...
https://i.ibb.co/n8VtvzXz/Quiet-Corner.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/W4vK4qSx/A-Little-Perspective.jpg
I've got a little cleanup to do out there. A little mowing/mulching around the edges. A few weeds to remove. Maybe a little retaining wall to flatten the area out a bit and slow the erosion. (It's not steep there, but it looks flatter in the picture than it is.) I may even take out a couple trees to open it up a bit.(?) A small water feature as part of the rock garden might also be in the cards.(?)
I don't know what it will be yet, but Mrs. Smith and I will start placing rocks and start getting it all feng shuied. (We're in no real hurry here. There is no artificial timeline. All that matters is that it is nice.) Then we can start planting sedum and succulents and whatever and get it all prepped for flowers next spring.
I just remembered... I bought a pack of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) seeds early this spring. (Like 1400 of them!) Maybe cardinal flowers will do well out there?
So, yeah. That's about it here today. We're going to run to town for some milk and whatever. And I'm going to build a small fire later because I have some paper trash to burn out. And I'll be going hornworm hunting for a little spell. (Seems they've come earlier than usual this year?)
Thanks, again. I hope you have a great evening, Mr. Alarmist!
☮️
Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad Miss Kitty came into our world and I really enjoyed the year we had with her. I just wish I hadn't cut our time so short. (Everything was going so well. She was so sweet. So cute. So adorable. And her and Baby Girl were getting along so well.) I really should have been more careful. (Still feeling pretty bad today. I'm not used to making mistakes.)
https://i.ibb.co/6JW8JYNt/Miss-Kitty.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/DPZVsJqF/Flowers-in-the-Yard.jpg
So, I have this under-utilized part of the yard that I've been thinking about cleaning up and turning into a flower garden (It's in the shade most of the day.) or something. (Just hadn't gotten to it yet.) And as chance would have it, this is where we buried Miss Kitty the other day. (In hindsight, I might have chosen a slightly different place out there. But I didn't...)
As evening approached Mrs. Smith grew concerned that some animals (dogs?, raccoons?, bear?) might come and dig her up in the night. (She's only 3 feet down, and the soil is very soft right now.) So... I started piling some rocks from around the yard atop her grave (Somewhat in a Trahlyta and/or native burial mound style) to keep the animals from digging or otherwise bothering her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trahlyta
Yesterday I went out in the back 40 and found a few larger rocks. I'm going to make a nice little garden area with a rock garden atop her grave...
https://i.ibb.co/n8VtvzXz/Quiet-Corner.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/W4vK4qSx/A-Little-Perspective.jpg
I've got a little cleanup to do out there. A little mowing/mulching around the edges. A few weeds to remove. Maybe a little retaining wall to flatten the area out a bit and slow the erosion. (It's not steep there, but it looks flatter in the picture than it is.) I may even take out a couple trees to open it up a bit.(?) A small water feature as part of the rock garden might also be in the cards.(?)
I don't know what it will be yet, but Mrs. Smith and I will start placing rocks and start getting it all feng shuied. (We're in no real hurry here. There is no artificial timeline. All that matters is that it is nice.) Then we can start planting sedum and succulents and whatever and get it all prepped for flowers next spring.
I just remembered... I bought a pack of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) seeds early this spring. (Like 1400 of them!) Maybe cardinal flowers will do well out there?
So, yeah. That's about it here today. We're going to run to town for some milk and whatever. And I'm going to build a small fire later because I have some paper trash to burn out. And I'll be going hornworm hunting for a little spell. (Seems they've come earlier than usual this year?)
Thanks, again. I hope you have a great evening, Mr. Alarmist!
☮️
The Alarmist
Wednesday - July 8th 2026 8:56AM MST
PS
Do you suppose there was some young black kid who, upon hearing Carrier describe his system, said,”What you talking about, Willis?”
Wait… if you are extracting heat from inside and venting it outside, you haven’t changed the overall balance of the Earth’s heat, ceteris paribus… except, of course, for the heat generated to power your A/C, but that was already generated to otherwise going to power data centers and e-vehicles, so is running your A/C really the problem?
Sorry to hear about your loss, Adam. At least you are a kind sould gave it a try for one of God’s creatures.
🕉.
Do you suppose there was some young black kid who, upon hearing Carrier describe his system, said,”What you talking about, Willis?”
Wait… if you are extracting heat from inside and venting it outside, you haven’t changed the overall balance of the Earth’s heat, ceteris paribus… except, of course, for the heat generated to power your A/C, but that was already generated to otherwise going to power data centers and e-vehicles, so is running your A/C really the problem?
Sorry to hear about your loss, Adam. At least you are a kind sould gave it a try for one of God’s creatures.
🕉.
Adam Smith
Tuesday - July 7th 2026 7:30PM MST
PS: To chew food well dey help di brain?
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/c4gyxp1ynylo
☮️
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/c4gyxp1ynylo
☮️
Adam Smith
Tuesday - July 7th 2026 7:01PM MST
PS: 𝑂𝑢𝑐ℎ! 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝐼𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚?
Willis was best friends and business partners with J. Irving Lyle. (Who is widely mistaken for his brother. The pair co-founded the Carrier Engineering Corporation in 1915, transforming air conditioning from a niche industrial tool into a everyday comfort.)
Irvin/Irwin... Irving?
☮️
Willis was best friends and business partners with J. Irving Lyle. (Who is widely mistaken for his brother. The pair co-founded the Carrier Engineering Corporation in 1915, transforming air conditioning from a niche industrial tool into a everyday comfort.)
Irvin/Irwin... Irving?
☮️
Adam Smith
Tuesday - July 7th 2026 6:58PM MST
PS: Hello again,
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛...
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 (ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟) 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡...
The cooling, eh?
More seriously, though... Check out this COP...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pd0czx7X0Q
☮️
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛...
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 (ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟) 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡...
The cooling, eh?
More seriously, though... Check out this COP...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pd0czx7X0Q
☮️
Moderator
Tuesday - July 7th 2026 6:58PM MST
PS: Ouch! Where did I get Irwin from? I read something about Willis Carrier, and then I converted it somehow. Next time, cut-and-paste!
Adam Smith
Tuesday - July 7th 2026 6:51PM MST
PS: Good evening, Achmed,
Irvin/Irwin, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Carrier
☮️
Irvin/Irwin, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Carrier
☮️
Yes, every use of the power generated from the probably natural-gas-burning plant will be converted to waste energy, heating the atmosphere, ground, water, or space, at some point. I guess the assumption is that, with less A/C, these stations wouldn't all have to be there... but, as you say, these data centers are going up, and they'll build as much as they have the power for. All of a sudden it's "screw the planet".
Yes, I meant to add to my reply to Adam Smith something about "whatchu' talkin' 'bout, Willis?"